Merrick w



(No Model.)

- M. W. ALLEN.

PICTURE HOLDER FOR PICTURE FRAMES.

No. 267,964. Patented Nov. 21, 1882.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MERRICK W. ALLEN, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE NATIONAL PAPETEBIE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

PICTURE-HOLDER FOR PICTURE-FRAMES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 267,964, dated November 21, 1882. Application filed August 16, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, MERRIoK W. ALLEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the-county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Picture-Holders for Picture- Frames, of which the following is a specification.

This. invention relates to improvements in pictureholders for picture-frames; and it consists of a hollow shell, of rectangular or analogous-form, made from thick paper, leather, or of thin wood,adapted to have a bearing upon its four borders, and capable of lateral expansion in all directions from its center, the object being to provide an elastic expansible picture-holder to beinterposed between the back of a picture-frameand the picture, which lies against the glass at the front, which, by pressure upon its central part, shall expand and haveits four borders moved simultaneously outward while they are pressed against the said picture, thus tending to press and draw all the borders thereof toward the sides of the frame andcause it to lie closely and smoothly againstthe glass, and also to provide such a picture-holder as will retain its elastic firmness,

so as to constitute a permanentspring-holder between said back and glass of apicture-frame.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figure I illustrates the rear side'of a picture-frame with its back removed, showing a picture-holder applied thereto embodying my invention. Fig. IIIis a transverse section on the line as 00, Fig. I. Fig. II is also a transverse section of the picture-frame. but showing a modified construction of the picture-holder.

In the drawings, B is a picture-frame of ordinary construction. d is the back of said frame. 0 is the glass. Ais the picture-holder. 0 indicates the borders thereof.

Picture-holders, or appliances designed to be interposed between the back and the glass in apicture-frame to press the picture against the glass. such ashave heretofore been made, have failed to fully meet the requirements of such devices, inasmuch as they have provided for no permanency of elasticity norsufficient firmness, and have failed to provide bearings opposite all of the borders of the picture.

. 5 My improved picture-holder is constructed from elastic or yieldingmateriaL-such as thin piece of either one of said materials, and pressing it therebetween, it takes the form of the die, and when dried becomes firm and elastic.

The preferable form of the picture-holder A is rectangular, and having nearly the form of atlat or low arch from all of its borders toward its center, whereby, when pressure is exerted thereupon, said borders all bear equally against the glass 0 and the picture or mat, or both, which are usually interposed between the said borders of the holder Aand said glass, and at the same time said borders, because of the elasticity of said material and said pressure, move more or less outward from the center, smoothing and drawing the picture-paper to-. ward the borders of the frame. Owing to the hollow rectangular form of the holder A, it is capable of resistin gconsiderable pressure, and hence it'constitutes a holder having the reqtiired spring-pressin g qualities of a permanent nature.

If desired, the flat border 0 around the four edges of the hollow shell may be dispensed with, letting the edges of the latter bear di- 8o rectly against the picture, without to any extent modifying the above-described action of said holder.

" When the shape of the picture or the frame requires it, holderA may be made of a hollow oval form; and when it is desirable, after a certain amount of pressure has been exerted upon the borders of the holder A, to have a central bearin g therefor, (which modification I do not claim in this application,) to hold the 0 center of the picture closely against the glass, which shall, subsequent to the border-bearing, bear at that point. The conical or other suitable shaped depression a, Fig. II, may be struck up in said holder.

The holder A in Fig. II, is shown as compressed between the back 11 and; the glass 6 in ter, and adapted to be colnpi'essed between frame B, as also is that in Fig. III. ohe back and the front of a picture-frame, sub- What I claim as my invention isstantially as set forth. The picture-holder A for picture-frames, MERRIOK W. ALLEN. 5 consisting of a, shallow elastic shell of rectan- Witnesses:

gular or analogous form, having a bearing WM. H. GHAPIN,

upon its borders in all directions from its cen- R. F. HYDE. 

